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One moment yesterday, and then one moment today after which you could just call my life complete and be done with it. How does one guy get two of these moments in a row?
I hope this doesn’t end up sounding like bragging. Though I wouldn’t put it past me, bragging is bad form. Plus, these stories are in no way indicative of my life in general – just a couple of aberrant events that show what I wish typified my life in general.
Yesterday, I did a CASA home visit. Three of the five kids were home with their momma, and we had a really nice visit. I got tons of attention from the baby, and eventually the kindergartener came to ask me how to spell my name. It took us a while, but he used a red pencil and wrote every letter down before heading off to the table with his paper. When it came time to leave, he ran over and tore off the part of the paper with my name printed in red and his name written in blue for me to take and keep. I told him it was instantly one of my greatest treasures. I told him this because it was instantly one of my greatest treasures. I’d sooner give up my car than that scrap of paper.
Today, I visited the nursing home. I found my friend, Mr. Flowers, sitting in the shade in a corner of the parking lot. Mr. Flowers is an old black man in a wheelchair, and if the world were a perfect place, it would be chock full of Mr. Flowerses. As always, he asked me for a “word of prayer,” and I responded with a real good one. He knew I came to see my buddy, Hezekiah, so after my prayer he gave me a cigarette to give to Hezekiah. “Tell him it’s a present from me.” Great, now I’m contributing to the delinquency of an invalid. Anyway, I spent some time with Hezekiah, delivered his new cigarette, and listened to his blaring radio with him. Eventually, I walked back outside to leave. On the way to my car I gave Mr. Flowers a wave and he motioned me over like he had really been waiting for me. When I went to see what he wanted, he excitedly said that he wanted to share a word of prayer with me! So, for the first time, when we held hands and closed our eyes I waited for him to pray. He said, “Amen God. Lord Jesus.” Um. That was it. And when I looked up he had that glimmer in his eye like he had just given me a most precious gift. And he had.
Life is good. And sometimes life really sucks. For that little boy yesterday and that old man today, life pretty much sucks all the time. And yet, over the past two days, they both gave me a gift – their two mites if you will.
I’m not sure about theirs, but those gifts made my life really good.
So this is lunch today: lean turkey, lowfat cheese, on wheat bread, with some sweet peas on the side and a nice banana – topped off by a nice bottle of water. This is what a hiatal hernia will get you.
But it’s a nice lunch don’t you think? I mean, it tasted good.
I’m now taking medicine four times a day. I have to take the medicine either one hour before eating or two hours after, and I’m not supposed to eat within three hours of bedtime. So you do the math. Even though I’m getting up at 5:30am and going to bed at 10:30pm, I’m eating three times a day. Period.
No more tomato-based foods or anything spicy. No fried or fatty foods. No citrus anything. No caffeine. No chocolate, and for some reason, nothing peppermint or spearmint.
But you can have lean turkey, lowfat cheese, on wheat bread, with some sweet peas on the side and a nice banana – topped off by a nice bottle of water.
I’m not complaining. Much. I actually appreciate the kick-start toward being healthy. I’m just headstrong enough to do it.
It does have me to thinking, however. I think we all need to learn how to fast. I used to say that I could not (literally) go to bed without eating a snack – which is a ridiculous thing even to say. Of course I can, and I will from here on out. But we live in a culture that tells us we never have to do without anything. And how unhealthy is that?
Maybe if we learned to fast.
Maybe if we started as children learning how to intentionally go “without” it wouldn’t kick us so hard when we learn that this is a necessary part of life.
And maybe we’d be able to live our whole lives for something more important than satisfying our fickle cravings.
So I need to get used to lawyer jokes. Feel free to help me out.
A surgeon, an architect and a lawyer are having a heated barroom discussion concerning which of their professions is actually the oldest profession.
The surgeon says: “Surgery IS the oldest profession. God took a rib from Adam to create Eve and you can’t go back further than that.”
The architect says: “Hold on! In fact, God was the first architect when he created the world out of chaos in 7 days, and you can’t go back any further than THAT!”
The lawyer puffs his cigar and says: “Gentlemen, Gentlemen…who do you think created the CHAOS??!!”
Hillary decided all on her own that she wanted to dance the summer before kindergarten. My only dancing experience came in dodging uncomfortable questions, so I was clueless. Somehow, we stumbled across Susan’s dance studio, an occurrence attributable to the grace of God
Hillary danced for Mrs. Susan in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Dancing in third grade fell victim to Katrina, but everything returned for fourth grade – and now fifth.
When we told Hillary we were moving last November, one of her first (and most important) questions was if she would still get to dance. Most assuredly, yes. Still, that only eased the pain a slight amount because she would not be dancing for Mrs. Susan anymore.
Last night was Hillary’s final dance recital in Ocean Springs, and it was beautiful. All of Hillary’s grandparents came down for the show (which, believe it or not, is six people!), and everything was simply perfect. The show, titled “Simple Things,” was so appropriate for us, reminding us of a healthy focus in all the big changes ahead.
A few years ago an older dance student moved away to Houston prior to her senior year. The next year she made a surprise return to Mississippi to dance for Mrs. Susan at the recital. Hillary noticed.
Last night, after the recital, Hillary went up to Mrs. Susan to tell her that she wanted to come back and dance for her when she was a senior. Hillary started to cry, Mrs. Susan was about to as well, not to mention my wife and I who were watching from across the stage. Mrs. Susan made her promise she would, and she did.
When Hillary starts to cry, it usually takes a long time for her to compose herself, but last night she pulled it together quickly. After our hugs for Susan, I snapped a picture of the two of them together.
It is one memory, frozen in time: a wonderful dance teacher and a little protégé who wants to make her proud. I guess simple things really are the best things.
I am scheduled for an esophagogastroduodenoscopy in three hours. Easy for me to say.
My crude understanding is that I will be swallowing a video camera. I have had to swallow a lot of things in my day, but to my recollection, a video camera has not been one of them. Oh well. I’m fond of new experiences.
The first set of good news was that my persistent chest pain was not heart-related. The second set of good news was that taking a certain pill every morning has made the pain (mostly) subside. The third set of news could be good or bad. And it involves swallowing a video camera for a test I cannot remember how to say, much less spell. Which is why it’s popularly called an EGD.
I guess it could reveal nothing, but that would be troubling since there’s something going on in my chest and it isn’t heart trouble. On the flip side, it could be esophageal cancer, which would really suck since that’s incurable. Most probably it will be one of many choices of esophagus-related maladies, requiring daily medicine and some lifestyle changes.
If you are warped, you can read about my impending test HERE.
I’ll let you know how the test turns out. Or maybe the video will be available on YouTube.
We listed our house for sale last week, and our first showing came last Saturday morning. Today marks the seventh showing in five days. Which is a good thing from where I sit.
If you want to see (or BUY!) a home we could never have afforded without an angel of mercy after Hurricane Katrina, you can check it out HERE.
Ben Stein wrote speeches for Richard Nixon. In 1976, Time Magazine speculated that he was “Deep Throat.”
Ben Stein is an actor whose most famous role came in his very first film. In 1986, he played the boring economics teacher who uttered the famous words, “Bueller? Bueller?”
Ben Stein is a lawyer. He graduated from Yale Law School in 1970 and taught at several law schools, including a lengthy tenure at Pepperdine’s School of Law from 1990-1997.
Ben Stein is a television star. He stepped down (or up?) from teaching law at Pepperdine to star in Comedy Central’s “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” the gig that launched the career of Jimmy Kimmel.
He did bunches and bunches of other interesting stuff, too (which you can read about HERE).
But now, Ben Stein is star and co-writer of a brand new controversial documentary titled, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” which is airing at a theater near you. The reason behind the movie, as explained on its official website is, “…that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the ‘crime’ of merely believing that there might be evidence of ‘design’ in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance.”
I haven’t seen the movie yet. A friend told me it was great. Wikipedia told me it has lots of holes.
I am about to go to a conservative law school nestled in one of the most liberal small towns in America. I’m really looking forward to all that.
I am not a conservative. On Facebook, I claim to be liberalish. I really have lots of conservative values, but I’m not much on having to choose sides. And since I really hate that Jesus-followers are reputedly on one side looking down at the other side, I have this huge tendency to identify with the other side.
This is why I probably won’t like “Expelled” that much. Seems to me to be the same old game: Christians masquerading as victims – making Christians want to fight, and ticking everyone else off.
The movie might be good, but I just can’t see who wins in that equation.
An article about fellow CASA, Sarah, and I appeared on page two of today’s Sun Herald.
If you’re bored (and you ARE bored since you’re reading my blog), you can read it HERE.
Unlike the Democrats and Republicans, I have been against the war in Iraq from its inception. Its illegality was my favorite reason. (Since I plan to be a lawyer, I’m interested in legal matters!) I blathered about my opposition proudly on certain faceless blogs and email groups, but being a first-class weenie, I have mostly kept this to myself in person.
I admire the courage of soldiers. Like, a lot. My dad fought in World War II, and I have always been proud of his service. I live in an area where I’ve made friends with bunches of military families, and I love each friend a lot (which is what you do to friends). I have considered military service at various times in the past, and for several reasons unrelated to the topic of this post it just didn’t turn out to be for me. But I love people who sign on Uncle Sam’s dotted line. I have three church brothers/friends who are over there right now.
But here’s the deal: the popular philosophy in our country is glaringly obvious, that if you speak out against the war, you are unpatriotic and are not (here’s the phrase) “supporting our troops.”
Well, I don’t want to do that. So I mostly keep my mouth shut.
But this morning I ran across an article by Garrison Keillor that makes a lot of sense to me. Truth is that his argument won’t change the popular philosophy described above, but I sure wish it would. It isn’t a long article, and I wish everyone would read it. It deserves an open discussion.
Check it out HERE.
